Coach gets nod after 19 seasons

Rutgers head football coach Kyle Flood speaks yesterday in his
introductory press conference at the?Hale?Center.

St. Francis Preparatory School lies along Francis Lewis
Boulevard, nestled inside the Brooklyn-Queens Greenway. Vince
Lombardi once called the Queens school home, as did Joe
Torre.

It added to its list of distinguished alumni yesterday, when
41-year-old Kyle Flood became the 29th head coach in Rutgers
football history. He credited former Rutgers head coach Greg
Schiano, but not before he paid homage to a 59-year St. Francis
mainstay.

Vince O’Connor, 81, gave Flood his first coaching opportunity in
1993.

“He was just a tremendous person the way he cared for his players,
whether you were Kyle Flood, who would go on to play Division III
football, or Marco Battaglia, who went on to play in the NFL,”
Flood said at his introductory press conference. “When you spoke to
Mr. O’Connor, you were the most important person in the
world.”

Battaglia, a former Rutgers All-American, was on hand at the Hale
Center to hear Flood, along with a host of Scarlet Knights and
administrators. He recalls Flood running around the St. Francis
cafeteria, making sure players were ready for the weekend’s
game.

“Coach O’Connor would count on a guy like that because he would be
able to control all of us,” said Battaglia, who was a sophomore
when Flood was a senior. “He showed leadership qualities back then,
and he’s been doing it ever since.”

Flood spent most of Monday recruiting when Athletic Director Tim
Pernetti informed Flood of his decision. Flood said, “Thank you,”
he joked yesterday, and called his wife afterward. And then he
worked, like he promised Pernetti last Thursday, when he took over
as interim head coach.

“Consistency is the most important thing in any program,” Flood
said. “Consistency of relationships in recruiting has allowed us to
advance our recruiting every year. The vision of Rutgers football
on offense, defense and special teams goes forward as it does
today. Nothing stays the same — it gets better.”

Like Schiano, Flood promised championships in the future. He spent
seven seasons under Schiano, serving as his offensive line coach
and earning assistant head coach responsibilities in 2008.

He spoke with Schiano, now head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,
before interviewing Saturday for the position. And he spent
countless hours in a chair next to the 11-year head coach.

But after 19 seasons as an assistant, now is Flood’s time.

“I’m not here to try to be Greg Schiano, nor is my personality the
same as Greg Schiano’s,” Flood said. “Going forward, they’ll see
the differences.”

The differences ultimately paid dividends for Flood, who received
endorsements from several former players — most in the NFL — during
Pernetti’s coaching search.

He helped produce 2010 first-round pick Anthony Davis, who started
every game in two seasons with the San Francisco 49ers. He tutored
10 All-Big East First Team or Second Team members. And, unlike
Schiano, he served on a national championship-winning coaching
staff in 2003 at Delaware.

Flood coached the Hofstra offensive line for five seasons before he
earned a shot with Delaware. He also had a two-year stint at Long
Island University-C.W. Post after leaving his alma mater, St.
Francis.

Battaglia still runs into his and Flood’s former St. Francis
teammates, which he called “to this day, very tight.” Before
becoming a four-year letterwinner at Iona, Flood’s St. Francis
teams were dominant, Battaglia said.

“It’s one of those schools where it’s under the radar — it’s a city
school,” Battaglia said. “But it has great tradition. You’re
getting the principle values. You look at all these guys in the
coaching field — these are all character guys.”

Flood built close ties with New Jersey high school coaches because
of that character. He lured Ryan Brodie, the Garden State’s top
lineman recruit, to Piscataway, along with Pennsylvania’s J.J.
Denman and Chris Muller, Rivals.com four-star recruits.

He still continues to prepare, even if it is not as frantic as it
was in a St. Francis mess hall.

“That was a memory I did not expect to have today,” Flood said.
“There are some coaches that envisioned themselves someday as head
coaches. I fell into that category. Since I started coaching, I
always hoped at some point I would have an opportunity to be a head
coach somewhere. You never know when that opportunity may or may
not come.”